Information AboutArchimandrite |
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| ecclesiastical titles | |
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The term derives from the Greek ''archi-'' meaning "highest" or from ''archon'' "ruler" and ''mandra'' meaning "enclosure", or "pen" to denote "monastery" (cf. the usage of "flock" for "congregation"). The title has been in common use since the 5th Century , but occurs for the first time in a letter to Epiphanius , prefixed to his Panarium (c. 375), but the Lausiac History of ar tiladius may be evidence that it was in common use in the 4th century as applied to Pachomius . When the monastic supervision was passed to another episcopal official, Great Sakellarios (" Sacristan "), the title of archimandrite became a honorary one for abbots of important monasteries, the title for an ordinary abbot being Hegumenos . The Russian Orthodox Church acquired the title in the latter meaning. Initially in some cases it was an extra title, e.g., Hegumen Polikarp of Kiev Cave Monastery was mentioned as "Hegumen Archimandrite" in manuscripts of 1174 . In 1874 the Russian monasteries were secularized and classified into three classes, and only the abbots at the head of monasteries of the second or first class are called archimandrite. The duties of both hegumen (abbot of a third class monarchy) and archimandrite are the same, only during the divine service the hegumen wears a simple Mantle , while the higher ranking archimandrite wears a mantle decorated with sacral texts, a Mitre and bears a staff (палица, "palitsa"). The Russian bishops are commonly selected from the archimandrites. An Archimandrite who is not the abbot of a monastery is styled "The Very Reverend Archimandrite" and one who is an abbot is styled "The Right Reverend Archimandrite". The word occurs in the ''Regula Columbani'' (c. 7), and du Cange gives a few other cases of its use in Latin documents, but it never came into vogue in the West; yet, owing to intercourse with Greek and Slavonic Christianity, the title is sometimes to be met with in southern Italy and Sicily, and in Hungary and Poland. SOURCES AND REFERENCES
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